
i Ml 

3&X McCLURE 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Chap Copyright No 

. Shelf^iu 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



FOR HEARTS THAT HOPE 




IDEAL MESSAGES 



SERIES of booklets for friend to send 
to friend, having in mind the convey- 
ing of a special word for a specific 
occasion. The elegant manner of produc- 
tion and the genuine worth of the messages 
fully justify the title of the series, for the 
complete books are assuredly " ideal." 



Old English paper boards, embossed, each, 
net, 25 cents. 

1. Beyond the Marshes. By Ralph Con- 

nor. A Word of Encouragement. 

2. The Bruised Reed and the Broken 

Heart. By Newell Dwight Hillis. 
A Word on the Uses of Adversity. 

3. For Eyes that Weep. By Samuel 

G. Smith. A Word of Comfort to 
Those Bereaved of Little Children. 

4. He's Coming To-morrow. By Har- 

riet Beecher Stowe. A Word on 
the Coming of Christ. 

5. For Hearts that Hope. By James 

G. K. McClure, D. D. A Word 
about Heaven. 

6. Unto Him. By Bishop John H. 

Vincent. A Simple Word about 
Coming to Jesus Christ. 



For Hearts 
That Hope 



by 



/ 



JAMES G. K. McCLURE 

AUTHOR OF "ENVIRONMENT," ETC. 



mz 




VITA E r LUX 



FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 

CHICAGO NEW YORK TORONTO 

Li£ — — — — — - 



-\ 



75862 



Library of Congresd 

Two Copies Received 
NOV 15 1900 

Copyright entry 

HoMr.^.tf..72X. 

SECOND COPY 

Delivered to 

ORDER DIVISION 

IJOV 2 o 1900 






Copyright, 1900 
By Fleming H. Revell Company 




FOR HEARTS THAT 
HOPE. 

OME little time ago 
I was asked to visit 
an aged man who 
evidently was near- 
ing death. He asked me about 
Heaven. He could not under- 
stand why a subject of such im- 
portance did not receive clearer 
and fuller treatment in the Book 
of God. He was a man of large 
intelligence, well versed in liter- 
ature and very practical. 

A few days later he fell asleep 
and dreamed. In his dream he 
saw Heaven, and entered it. It 
was very large, much larger 



than he had anticipated, and 
many people were there. And 
still every one seemed perfectly 
at home and comfortable. His 
daughter, a young teacher of 
rare spiritual beauty, who had 
died a few years since, came to 
him and said that she "would 
teach him the ways of Heaven/' 
He went with her, and presently 
he found himself among quite a 
little company gathered about 
his daughter, who were repeat- 
ing after her the words of 
Heaven. He, too, learned them 
from her lips. 

He awakened from this dream 
with a calmed mind. Then 
again falling asleep, he dreamed 
the same dream for the second 
time. Upon awakening from 
this repeated dream he ceased to 



make further inquiries concern- 
ing the future, and became 
absolutely peaceful. 

With this man's experience in 
mind, a man who never until 
that hour had allowed himself to 
be affected by a mere dream, I 
am moved to attempt such a 
statement of the nature of 
Heaven as is clearly warranted 
by the teachings of the Bible. 
For I am sure that if a few true 
words concerning that better 
world can be put on paper, they 
will be acceptable to very many 
people. Almost every week 
some one asks me about Heaven. 
The constancy and eagerness 
of these inquiries indicate how 
prevalent is the desire to know 
what is revealed concerning the 
life for which we hope. 



One special declaration in the 
Scripture tells us all that we 
need to know concerning it, 
either for our comfort of heart 
or for our usefulness of conduct. 
John was heavenly minded and 
heavenly visioned when he said: 
" Beloved now are we the sons 
of God, and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be: but 
we know that when He shall 
appear, we shall be like Him, 
for we shall see Him as He is." 

Hearts that hope do well to 
fasten in their memories three 
statements thus made by John 
concerning "the better world." 
One is, that there are persons 
to-day who so truly have some 
of God's traits in their hearts 
that they are rightly called "sons 
of God." The child of any kind 



of a parent has the nature of his 
parent, the son of a wolf has a 
wolfs nature, the son of a man 
has a man's nature, the son of 
a God has a God's nature. As 
a drop of water has, at least in 
part, the nature of the ocean in 
it, so these "sons of God" have, 
at least in part, the very views, 
desires, and purposes of God in 
them. The second statement is 
this, that all the particulars con- 
cerning the eternal future of these 
sons of God are not revealed. 
We have no means of knowing 
either the exact spot where these 
sons of God are to live, or the 
detailed circumstances of their 
future doings; "it doth not yet 
appear [in all such particulars] 
what we shall be." And the 
third statement is, that although 
these particular features of their 



future are unknown, one general 
feature is sure, they are to be 
" like Christ/' The explanation 
of this likeness is given in the 
assurance that these sons of God, 
seeing Christ in His real beauty, 
shall be moved to admire and 
love Him more and more, and 
as a result of thus seeing Him, 
shall grow increasingly like 
Him. 

Even though it is true that 
many of our possible questions 
about Heaven are unanswerable, 
still the thought of Heaven 
arouses and rightly arouses much 
inquiry* If we are to live after 
our breath ceases on earth, it 
really is most desirable that we 
should know what the general 
nature of our future life is t6 be. 
Besides, when our companions 

10 



pass from us into this unseen 
world, our unfaltering and even 
quickened affection follows them; 
and as we stand at the graves of 
children or friends, we try to peer 
as far as we possibly can into 
the hidden world, longing to see 
our dear ones and know of their 
welfare and surroundings. 

This thought of Heaven has 
been a great power, and often 
an ennobling power, in many 
lives. Jesus Christ Himself was 
helped by the anticipation of 
Heaven's joy to despise the 
shame of His humiliation and 
endure the cross. Were the roll 
of the sweetest, strongest, most 
serviceable heroes of the Chris- 
tian church called, it would be 
found that a very large propor- 
tion of them lived as seeing the 

ii 



invisible Heaven. The Saviour 
assumed that the idea of Heaven 
would be a purifying power in 
men's souls, and so He constantly 
called His kingdom on earth the 
kingdom of Heaven ; as though 
the possibility of the fulfillment 
and completion of His precepts 
in Heaven, thus suggested, would 
encourage people to start to do 
them on earth. The outcome 
of this assumption was marvel- 
lous; beautiful characters sprang 
up at its inspiration. Paul, 
with his eye on Heaven's " house 
not made with hands/' fought 
his good fight against passions 
and weaknesses, and conquered. 
James victoriously endured temp- 
tations as he foresaw Heaven's 
" crown of life." Peter, think- 
ing of Heaven as the place 
wherein righteousness prevails, 



12 



charged himself and others to 
consider "what manner of men 
ought we to be in all holiness 
and godliness/ ' And John, the 
eagle-eyed, John who so often 
and so long fastened his gaze on 
Heaven's glories, himself became 
glorious by the things he saw. 

To summon to our presence 
the men, women, and youth who 
in all ages and climes have been 
sweetened and cheered by the 
anticipation of Heaven, would 
bring before us the most helpful 
and hopeful of all God's people. 
Stephen looked into Heaven, 
and then he could pray for his 
persecutors. Margaret Wilson 
lifted her eyes above the incoming 
tides of Solway Firth, and seeing 
the Haven that awaited her soul, 
made no cry, but faced bravely 

13 



the waters as they crept to her 
throat for their fatal grasp. 

Why is it that we or any 
others believe in a life lying 
beyond our present existence? 
The answer is, because, in part, 
our very natures seem made for 
such a belief. In all periods of 
history mankind has had a more 
or less clear expectation of living 
after death. It is at least an 
open question whether any 
mature and thoughtful person 
has ever trodden our earth who 
did not at times anticipate con- 
tinuing to live, though his body 
should perish. I say " at times "; 
for it would be untrue to fact to 
fail to mention that there are 
moments, and perhaps even days, 
when, through disappointment 
or distress, many people are un- 

14 



certain whether death does not 
end all life. And still, in spite 
of this temporary uncertainty, it 
is the case that the conviction of 
the human race, when that con- 
viction is normal and is not 
diverted by trouble (as the needle 
may be temporarily diverted from 
its pole by the proximity of iron), 
sets toward a belief in continued 
life in another world. " Every 
man hears in his own breast the 
drum-beat of eternity," as Henry 
Ward Beecher once said. 

This anticipation has worked 
out different theories of the 
nature of the after-life according 
to the ideals that prevail in dif- 
ferent parts of the earth. In 
India the conception of the after- 
life is of limitless transmigrations 
of the soul; in Persia, of a dwell- 

15 



ing in the " Isles of the Blessed ; 
in Greece, of an enjoyment of a 
merry Elysium; in Scandinavia, 
of a continued feasting and fight- 
ing in Valhalla; and in aboriginal 
America, in a wandering in the 
"happy hunting-ground/ 1 



But vary as this anticipation 
does in its details, this anticipa- 
tion exists as a part of our 
natures. Christ found this antici- 
pation in men's hearts when He 
came to Judea. How far it had 
moulded Jewish thought and 
character is uncertain — but that 
it had been a power, and still 
was a power, is sure. Men like 
Abraham had been sustained by 
it. Joseph had died in the faith 
of it. The Psalmists had felt 
its help as they were to pass 
through the dark valley of the 

16 



shadow of death; they expected 
to be received into glory; they 
looked forward to being satisfied 
when they awoke in God's like- 
ness. It was of this anticipation 
that Christ spoke when He said : 
"If it were not so, I would have 
told you/ 1 Therefore He met 
this belief in continued life with 
assurances that it was well- 
grounded, and with assertions 
that such life would be to His 
followers a joy. 

Right here we come upon our 
supreme, our satisfying reason 
for believing in a blessed Heaven. 
Once I would have said that the 
convincing reason is the Resur- 
rection of Christ. I would have 
said that that Resurrection is 
our sole basis for believing in 
immortality. But now I say 

17 



that the convincing reason for 
that belief is Jesus Christ Him- 
self, His being, His character. 
He is even greater than His 
Resurrection. That Resurrec- 
tion is very great. It may well 
hold our attention — it is so sub- 
lime in itself, it is so wondrously 
attested, it has been so significant 
a factor in the history of this 
world since the first Easter. But 
that Resurrection, to those who 
grasp the significance of Christ *s 
character, is fust such an event 
as might be expected from such 
a character. One like Christ 
could not be holden of death. His 
Resurrection did confirm His 
word; it was a sort of credential. 
We needed the credential; there- 
fore we had it. But when we 
have had it, when we have 
studied the credential and seen 

18 



that it is undoubtable, we lay it 
down and we give our attention 
to the Ambassador who has pre- 
sented the credential. This 
Ambassador taught immortality; 
yes, and more: He lived immor- 
tality* We believe in Jesus 
Christ; therefore we believe in 
Heaven. 

But what do we believe Heaven 
to be? Perhaps some one will 
say that even though Jesus 
Christ brought immortality to 
light, immortality is still encir- 
cled by darkness. He will say 
the truth. It is a fact that there 
is mystery — much, great, pro- 
found mystery — about Heaven. 
But it is not surprising that such 
is the case. Mystery could 
scarcely be spared from the 
thought of Heaven. Mystery, 

19 



in any matter, has a special 
mission of human helpfulness: 
it tends to make men careful in 
their judgments and reverential 
in their spirit. It sobers the 
mind which, were mystery lack- 
ing, would feel no sense of 
ignorance, and might rush head- 
long and heedless into the future. 
When the forest is unexplored 
and shadowy, the little child 
ventures into it with slow steps 
and wide-open eyes. Mystery 
always arouses thoughtfulness: 
it is a sentinel challenging 
"Attention!" It puts questions 
to the soul; it starts the soul 
upon investigation. We all are 
helped to be larger, wiser men 
because of the mystery that 
attends much of earthly life. The 
very mystery concerning the 
heavenly life is a blessing to us : 



20 



it tends to save us from flip- 
pancy and bravado. 

Then, too, this is true: the 
nature itself of the better world 
demands that mystery be about 
it. Heaven is indescribable to 
us. It is a condition of which 
we have had no experience. The 
man born blind cannot under- 
stand the nature of colors. He 
lives in a colorless world. Blue, 
green, yellow, mean nothing, can 
mean nothing, to him. He must 
have his eyes opened if he is to 
understand what is meant by 
colors. Unless our powers of 
understanding were enlarged be- 
yond anything as yet attainable, 
any attempt to explain to us the 
mysteries of eternity would only 
confuse, benumb, or dazzle us; 
it would surely mislead us. 

21 



It is just here that the unique 
character of the Bible is seen. 
It never allows itself to attempt 
a description of the indescribable. 
If, for instance, it speaks of a time 
when "the elements shall melt 
with a fervent heat, and the skies 
shall be rolled together as a 
scroll, and the new heavens shall 
appear," and it thus arouses our 
whole nature by its description 
of this, the greatest catastrophe 
in the history of humanity, the 
Bible stops absolutely short after 
it has made this startling revela- 
tion, and says nothing whatever 
about those many queries which 
our curiosity would prompt us 
to put concerning this catastrope. 
It states a general fact; it leaves 
the details of the fact unstated. 

It may be — and there certainly 

22 



seems to be ground for saying 
so — that were a full description 
of Heaven given us, so that 
every item of information that 
we could desire were laid before 
us, that description might have 
a most unfortunate effect on us. 
When the spies went into the 
promised land, they saw the land 
exactly as it was. But the very 
giants who were meant to be 
their servants, and the very 
walled towns that were meant 
to be their refuges and strong- 
holds, frightened them, and 
instead of being helped by the 
sight, the spies were actually 
terrorized by it, and incapaci- 
tated for the present duty. It is 
true of successes as well as of 
failures, that the foreseeing of 
them would prove detrimental 
to most men. Many a person 

23 



to-day is bearing honors and 
carrying responsibilities from 
which he would have run away 
had he known twenty years ago 
that these honors and responsi- 
bilities were awaiting him. 
Were God to show us what He 
has in store for us, the beauty of 
the surroundings, the nobility of 
the life, the wonder of it all, the 
sight might so overpower us as 
to unfit us for the service imme- 
diately at hand. 

But though the mystery con- 
cerning the better world is a real 
blessing, the wish often asserts 
itself in our hearts, "Oh, that I 
could see a little further into 
immortality than I do!' It is 
not so much that we wish to 
have more definite information 
concerning our own future, as it 

24 



is that we are solicitous about 
our dead who have passed be- 
yond our sight, and we feel that 
we would give all our posses- 
sions if we could know where 
they are and what their sur- 
roundings are. " What are they 
doing ?' we ask* There is no 
answer to our question. As well 
might we ask what is our friend 
or our child doing who to-day is 
in the very heart of Africa, be- 
yond the reach of any communi- 
cation. We cannot tell what he 
is doing. Even on earth there 
are many occasions when we are 
obliged to leave our absent friend 
to the care of God, and to that 
care only. We can send him no 
message, we cannot hear from 
him, we are absolutely ignorant 
of his situation and condition. 
But we can say to our hearts: 

25 



"Surely, all God's purposes are 
good, and God's eye is always 
watchful, and God's arm is 
always outstretched to protect/ 5 
And so we can tell our hearts 
to wait in peace until, some 
day, communication shall be 
opened between us and our 
friend. Similarly we can say — 
only with a far more restful con- 
ception of the divine protection 
as it prevails in Heaven — of our 
dead in Heaven: "God is with 
them; they see His face; they 
rejoice in His presence; all is 
well/ 5 And then we can wait, 
whether the time be longer or 
shorter, for the communication 
to be opened between friend and 
friend. 

So far in these words of mine 
I have spoken of Heaven as 

26 






attended by the shades of mys- 
tery. But immortality itself 
stands forth in clear light. There 
are some features of it that are 
perfectly definite. 

jOne is, that immortal life is 
presence with God, This does not 
mean that God's presence is ever 
absent from us, or that any 
experience on earth is apart from 
His spiritual care. What it 
means is, that Heaven is God's 
home, the home where every 
object that surrounds Him is to 
His taste. On earth, mingled 
with the good, there is the im- 
perfect, the transient, the disap- 
pointing; in Heaven there is only 
the good. All is perfect, lasting, 
satisfying. It is one thing to see 
a noble man as he walks where 
squalor and disease and vice 

27 



are; it is a far different thing to 
see that same man as he walks 
in his own house, where only the 
beautiful and the healthy and 
the holy are. It was this very 
idea of the difference between 
earth and Heaven that seems to 
have been in Christ's mind when 
He, who had been seen living 
among lepers and hypocrites, and 
among all sinful surroundings, 
prayed that His disciples might 
later be "where I am, that they 
may behold my glory/' A con- 
dition of life in which all is 
" glorious," even to the eyes of 
Christ, must be most blessed. 
So long as we confine our im- 
agination within the range of 
the characteristics of God, and do 
not let it run off into fancies 
apart from those characteristics, 
we cannot think too high and too 

28 



helpful thoughts of the beauty of 
Heaven. 

There is one point, however, 
that here needs guarding ; while 
Heaven is the place and the con- 
dition of the perfect, we must 
not think that Heaven means 
cessation of growth. The seed 
is perfect as a seed; but it has 
capacity for development, and it 
answers to its full opportunity 
only when it — perfect in itself — 
perfectly develops. The soul of 
man may be guileless and yet 
may grow. Every faculty may 
be healthy to the degree of devel- 
opment it has yet reached and 
still be capable of enlargement. 
So far as we know, stagnation is 
death; and accordingly we be- 
lieve that the perfect soul goes 
on forever, developing in the 

29 



power of its capabilities, and 
increasing more and more in its 
comprehension of all the truths 
of God. 

Such ability to lay hold of the 
truths of God will enhance the 
joy of fellowship with Him. 
That fellowship is perhaps the 
supreme privilege of immortality. 
"I will come again and receive 
you unto myself/' Christ said. 
To Christ true comradeship in 
Heaven was to be at once His 
reward and our happiness. He 
looked forward to having His 
disciples associated with Him in 
unrestrained intercourse — heart 
open to heart, and mind to mind. 
As there is no pleasure that so 
satisfies and stimulates pure 
souls on earth as fellowship, one 
with the other, so there can be no 

30 



sweeter anticipation of Heaven 
than that which suggests our 
companionship with God. They 
who walked with Christ on the 
way to Emmaus were strangely 
happy and strangely intelligent. 
They, too, who walk with God 
in Heaven will find their heart 
burning within them, and their 
whole intellectual life quickened. 
Nor is it possible for us to think 
of a life wherein such fellowship 
exists between God and our- 
selves without thinking also of 
a condition of our minds which 
implies the possibility — yes, and 
the necessity — of fellowship with 
our friends who are in Heaven. 
Christ talked with Moses and 
Elijah on the Mount of Trans- 
figuration, and they with Him. 
Moses and Elijah evidently knew 
one another and had interests in 



3i 



common. Human hearts will 
find one another in Heaven, and 
will have fellowship in congenial 
themes. 

"Has it never struck you that 
when One rose from the dead 
and appeared to His friends by 
the lakeside, He did not tell 
them how trifling earthly mat- 
ters now appeared to Him ? His 
first question was, * Children, 
have ye any meat?' — the most 
ordinary question of daily life. 
I always recall this when people 
try to convince me that those 
beyond the veil no longer take 
any interest in the commonplace 
affairs which interest us; and I 
think what a comfort it is to 
know that those who have 
passed through the grave and 
gate of death are still too human 

32 



I 



and too natural and too intimate 
with us to be indifferent to any 
trifle which concerns our welfare, 
even in the smallest degree/' 

This is the second feature of 
immortality that is definite: those 
who enter into immortality see 
things as they realty are. This 
feature is wondrously significant. 
A person's eyes may be holden 
so that he cannot see things as 
they are. Such was the case at 
first with those very disciples on 
the way to Emmaus: they saw 
Christ, and still they did not see 
Him. They had no compre- 
hension of who He was. Later 
their eyes were opened, and then 
they saw Him as He was, their 
glorified Lord. So an untaught 
child looks at the written paper 
that tells him of the gift his father 

33 



wishes to make to him, and tells 
him, too, of the love of that father 
for him; he sees the paper and 
the writing that is on it, but the 
paper has no meaning at all to 
him* Only when he has learned 
to read can he really see the 
paper, and then, seeing the paper 
as it is, he learns the precious- 
ness of its writing. 

This promise, that we shall 
see things as they are, has far- 
reaching possibilities. It means 
that we shall be free from the 
power of all those biases and pre- 
judgments that so often make ob- 
jects appear different from what 
they are. This will be particularly 
true of our conception of God. 
The sorrow and anxiety of our 
earthly life are largely due to our 
misunderstandings of God. It 

34 



has always been so. The story 
of the coming of sin and distress 
into the world tells us that their 
coming was due to man's mis- 
judgment of God; man took it 
for granted that God was not 
good enough to be trusted, and 
therefore he disobeyed Him. 
All our discouragement, all our 
peevishness, and much of our 
grief are caused by our failure 
to see that God is always wise 
and loving, and is always man- 
aging the events of human life. 
We think of Him as hard or 
partial or unconcerned, and then 
we become unhappy. " My way 
is hid from the Lord," we say, 
and so we grow bitter. Or we 
say, " God sends me more than 
I can bear," and then we give 
up our restful confidence in 
Him. 

35 



But such misconceptions of 
God and of God's actions are 
never to have place in Heaven. 
How the change will come 
about that will cause this true 
view of all things is not revealed. 
We are simply told that such 
will be the case, but the method 
by which it will be wrought out 
is left unexplained. It is not 
difficult, however, to believe in 
this change. We often witness 
changes that are similar in kind 
if not in degree. Once Wash- 
ington's soldiers looked on him 
as their selfish oppressor. Am- 
bitious officers had misled them, 
and had persuaded them even to 
plot against Washington. When 
Washington knew the situation 
he called the soldiers together. 
Then he told them the simple, 
plain facts of the war, told them 

36 



the condition of the country as 
it was at that hour, and told 
them, too, the meaning of his 
actions as their commander. 
Immediately the scales dropped 
from their eyes. In an instant 
they saw him, not as their op- 
pressor, but as their benefactor 
and friend. They rushed for- 
ward with tears upon their 
cheeks to tell him of their grati- 
tude and devotion. 

So it was in the case of the 
leper whom Christ healed; im- 
mediately he was made whole. 
The disease that had been work- 
ing in his system, perhaps for 
years, instantly, at Christ's 
touch, disappeared. "We shall 
all be changed, in a moment, in 
the twinkling of an eye." It will 
be like stepping out of gloom 

37 



into light; one step may be 
enough, and with that step every 
object will appear as it is. 
We shall see God without a 
blur on any of His perfections; 
we shall see all His dealings, 
and all His truths, as wise and 
beautiful. 

"I'll bless the hand that guided, 
I '11 bless the heart that planned, 
When throned where glory dwelleth 
In Emmanuel's land." 

There is still a third feature 
of immortality that is definite: 
it secures to all who have part 
in it likeness to God, This like- 
ness to God follows almost as a 
corollary from presence with 
Him and true view of Him ; fel- 
lowship and admiration com- 
bined produce likeness. We often 
see this law, for law it is, exem- 

3« 



plified on earth. Close, devoted 
friends come to think alike, to 
have the same tastes. The 
nearer and dearer their associa- 
tion the more speedily does like- 
ness of soul appear. 

This law has wide application. 
The contemplation of bright 
things makes our hearts bright, of 
sober things makes them sober. 
If we give ourselves up to our 
surroundings admiringly and ab- 
sorbingly, we take color from 
them. Even in this lifetime, to 
look at Christ with unswerving 
and affectionate loyalty is to be 
changed into His likeness from 
glory to glory. To look at Him 
when He stands before us in 
the clear light of immortality, 
and then to have our whole being 
go out toward Him in gratitude 

39 



and love, will be to change with 
far increased rapidity into His 
likeness. Every beautiful trait of 
the Lord of Heaven will be repro- 
duced in us. Not only shall we 
drop off the feebleness, weariness, 
and sorrow of sin, but we shall 
also put on the strength, peace, 
and gladness of holiness. In the 
highest sense we shall become 
" partakers of the divine nature/' 
and all our tastes, affinities, de- 
lights, shall be like those of God. 

There remains one more clear 
feature of immortality to be 
mentioned : it is the perfect satis- 
faction of Heaven. All through 
our earthly lives this element has 
been lacking. It is a part of 
human existence to be restless 
and to have unmet longings. 
We are like the vines with their 

40 



tendrils; the vines are always 
stretching out those tendrils in 
every direction in search for sup- 
port. So the outreachings of 
our hearts for something differ- 
ent, something better, are con- 
tinual. We are dissatisfied with 
anything and everything we rest 
our souls upon. 

But these dissatisfactions are 
foretokens of immortality. Just 
as the branches of the trees that 
came floating out toward Colum- 
bus when he was approaching 
the new world told him that 
that new world existed and was 
awaiting him, so our unmet 
needs, our unfulfilled longings, 
assure us that the better world 
is at hand, and that in that 
world, when we awake in God's 

likeness, we shall be satisfied. 

* * * % * 
41 



At this point, after so many 
words of description, I feel sure 
that I hear some one say: "You 
have not told me what I want 
to know. Tell me, if you can, 
about my friend for whom I am 
so lonely, my child whose ab- 
sence is my constant grief." 

There are hundreds of ques- 
tions about the better world that 
no one can answer, because there 
are no data wherewith to answer 
them. We must leave the ques- 
tions all unsolved. But let this 
be borne in mind: we do not 
leave these questions to them- 
selves, we leave them to God. 
God knows the answer to every 
one of them. To Him our dark- 
ness is light. To Him our dead 
and our living are equally in His 
light and in His care. " I am the 

42 



God of Abraham and of Isaac/' 
Abraham and Isaac are not 
dead to Him, and He is their God, 
and the God also of all our 
absent ones. 

Now if the question arises, 
"Who are to be in Heaven?' 
the answer is at hand, "The sons 
of God/ 5 Not that we can 
specify every particular person, 
but that we can say, "All who 
have God's nature on earth are 
to be with Him in Heaven/ 5 It 
makes no difference whether they 
always use the catch-words that 
are dear to some saints of God 
or not, nor whether they carry 
or fail to carry in their hands 
man-made passports to immor- 
tality. Their future state de- 
pends entirely upon the nature 
of their hearts and lives; they 

43 



that begin to be like God here 
are the heirs of Heaven, 

So long as the prodigal boy 
tries to satisfy himself away 
from his father, and has his part 
with swine, he is not like his 
loving, pure father. But when 
he comes to himself, and seeing 
the wrong of his purposes and 
conduct, turns penitently from 
them toward his home, then he 
is like his father, and being like 
his father, he has his own safe 
place at home. Until a man 
means to get the better of his 
sin, until, when knowing Jesus 
Christ, he means to fashion his 
life according to the pattern of 
the Saviour, I do not see how he 
can be a son of God and so be 
prepared for Heaven. But when, 
even with the mustard-seed of 



44 



L.efC. 



faith, he turns his face and soul 
toward the Home of God and 
starts to conform to the will of 
God, his path can have but one 
ending — the ending of entrance 
upon immortality. 

"Who will be in Heaven?" 
There will be countless children 
there, great multitudes of them 
coming up out of all the tribes 
of the earth, whose infant spirits, 
trustful and dependent, God has 
taken into His special keeping 
for time and for eternity. There 
will be all those who picked their 
footsteps in the light God threw 
upon their pathways and were 
loyal to His revelation of His 
will, great, diversified multitudes, 
who will find Heaven's gates 
opening welcomingly in opposite 
directions, south as well as north, 

45 



east as well as west. The song 
of Heaven will be a hosanna 
sung by a host so large that no 
man can number it. 

In that Heaven, we look for 
what we can best designate as a 
"natural* kind of life, though 
in spiritual surroundings. There 
we expect to recognize our loved 
and lost, and enjoy their com- 
pany, though not in any frivo- 
lous and selfish way. They 
will have their high duties, and 
we shall have ours also. There, 
too, we expect merriment and 
feasting and all good cheer, but 
all these are to be without alloy 
of any kind. There, too, we 
expect to grow. Daily, hourly 
service of the will of God shall 
be ours, and in that service, a 
service that necessitates effort, 

4 6 



even as a bird must beat its 
wings to fly, we expect to reach 
higher and higher intellectual 
and spiritual power. 

Let me then tell, in conclusion, 
what I think should be the re- 
solves to which this study of 
Heaven should lead us. 

First, to keep mindful that we 
are here on earth for a little 
time, and then immortality be- 
comes ours! That immortality 
is the highest, happiest, noblest 
vision ever set before the heart 
of man; immortality is a sur- 
passing privilege, it is a limitless 
opportunity. The soul that fails 
to attain it fails of its grandest 
possibility. Well may we re- 
joice that we ever were born 
into this life of struggle, since im- 

47 



mortality stands waiting for us; 
and well may we press onward in 
those ways of present duty that 
most surely lead to Heaven's 
open door. 

And second, to hold fast to 
this vision of Heaven, and not 
let it escape from our thought* 
Ideals determine our character 
and conduct. Ideals for such a 
life as to-day we ought to live, 
who perhaps to-morrow are to 
be associated face to face with 
God, are the most inspiriting, 
purifying ideals that can come 
into human minds. One of the 
best helps to be patient, to be 
brave, to be unselfish — yes, to 
be magnanimous — is to fix the 
eyes on the land where " sons of 
God' are forever with their 
Father. 

4 8 



And then, third, to shape our 
estimate of right character and 
our estimate of true success by 
the standards that prevail in 
Heaven. Let us call that and 
only that good which is good 
according to the judgment of 
Heaven ; let us call that and only 
that worthy which Heaven ap- 
proves. Wise will it be for us 
if we test our motives and our 
behavior by the wishes of Him 
who is Heaven's center and 
Heaven's joy. So may it come 
true for us, that, having the 
hope of Heaven in us, we 
shall strive more and more to 
be pure even as God Himself 
is pure! 

"O Paradise! O Paradise! 
I want to sin no more ; 
I want to be as pure on earth 
As on the spotless shore* " 

49 



When very old, Victor Hugo 
wrote: 

" I feel in myself the future life. 
I am rising, I know, toward the 
sky. The sunshine is over my 
head. Heaven lights me with the 
reflection of unknown worlds. 

"You say the soul is nothing 
but the result of bodily powers; 
why, then, is my soul the more 
luminous when my bodily pow- 
ers begin to fail ? Winter is on 
my head and eternal spring is 
in my heart. 

"The nearer I approach the 
end, the plainer I hear around 
me the immortal symphonies of 
the worlds which invite me. It 
is marvelous, yet simple. It is 
a fairy tale, and it is a history. 
For half a century I have been 

50 



writing my thoughts in prose, 
verse, history, philosophy, 
drama, romance, tradition, sat- 
ire, ode, song — I have tried all. 
But I feel that I have not said 
the thousandth part of what is 
in me. When I go down to the 
grave I can say, like so many 
others: 'I have finished my 
day's work/ but I cannot say, 
'I have finished my life/ My 
day's work will begin the next 
morning. The tomb is not a 
blind alley. It is a thoroughfare. 
It closes in the twilight to open 
with the dawn. I improve every 
hour because I love this world 
as my fatherland. My work is 
only a beginning. My work is 
hardly above its foundation. I 
would be glad to see it mounting 
and mounting forever. The thirst 
for the infinite proves infinity/' 

51 



NOV 15 1900 



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